More speakers have been added to the 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit's speaker roster. Joining the roster for next year's event are PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, who is currently working on a new music title for the Nintendo Wii, and newly-appointed Entertainment Software Association president Michael D. Gallagher. More new speakers at the full article.

Yes folks, it's just one more week to go before Leipzig runs abuzz with various entities in the game industry. The Games Convention Developer's Conference (GCDC) and Games Convention (GC) is taking a hint from this year's Game Developers' Conference, and organizers expecting to be the biggest gaming event in Europe - all by itself.

 

Correspondents from The Official Weblog for GC 2007 Leipzig have stepped into the massive Exhibition Center to investigate just how big GC 2007 may be in a week. And if organizer Leipziger Messe's announcements weren't ambitious enough, publishers and developers have been busy at work to make their presence just as significant as the European-centered event.

They've identified stands from Sony (lots of them, plus a whirpool generator?), Electronic Arts, Midway, Blizzard Entertainment, Codemasters, Saber Interactive, GOA, EA Mythic, Global Star Publishing, and LucasArts, among others. There are stands in the event that have yet to be assembled, but that's subject to change in the coming days. Don't expect Nintendo to make a showing, though.

Codemasters, Global Star Publishing, GOA, EA Mythic, LucasArts, Midway

More pictures courtesy of gc-blog.de at the full article!

World of Warcraft (WoW) is definitely the strongest and most successful MMO video game out there today. This is not say though that there is no competition. Truth be told, there was a general feeling around the industry during the start of WoW's dominance that developers should stay away from the genre in the mean time.

But it looks like things are changing now. As BBC reported, there are other games out there other than WoW that belong to the same genre. And we can't help but agree. Even Funcom game director Gaute Godoger agrees. Currently, Funcom is in the last stages of development for Age of Conan and it's planning to give Blizzard a run for its money. Godoger commented,

We need other strong games that can make people understand that there's more to it than WoW. It's for adults. We did not want to be a teen-rated game, we wanted to have the possibility of making a game that takes the licence seriously. Players want to be more active in combat and know that their skill as a player matters.

Aside from Funcom, Codemasters is in a very good position now to take some slice off WoW's user base with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar a couple of weeks ago. Just like Conan, Codemasters is hoping that the lore's installed fan base will be drawn to the game. According to VP and GM David Solari,

Having that brand or licence is very valuable for getting a ready-made audience. The very least you have to do is make a great game. For the first time we have allowed players to shape Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Players want something they can feel they can own themselves.

Lastly, LucasArts is looking to make a comeback in the MMO genre as several changes and revamps are being planned to Star Wars Galaxies. It was released back in 2003 and is also relying heavily on the license's strength. Galaxies Producer Jake Neri commented that while they are happy with WoW's success, they are pretty sure that their game will remain a strong competitor,

The player base for MMO games has exploded. We see new people trying the game all the time. Galaxies was one of the first MMOs.There was no handbook on how to do these things. They make the place come alive, just by their playing style.

 

Just how much is a billion dollars? If you had a billion one dollar bills and counted each one, at the rate of a dollar per second, it would take you 30 years to complete the task! That's the kind of counting PC game makers face for selling, well, almost a billion dollars worth of games in 2006. According to the NPD Group, the exact figure is US$ 970 million - which may not be a billion but it's pretty darn close.

Leading the pack of  the hottest PC game last year is Blizzard's World of Warcraft which sold 969,000 units. In second place is The Sims 2 from EA which moved 598,000 units. However, the The Sims franchise dominated the list with five titles in the top 10.

Since we're in the realm of the big numbers, we might as well give you NPD's total PC video game hardware, software and accessories sales digits in 2006: US $13.5 billion.

And here's the rest of the top ten best-selling games of 2006 according to NPD:

1. World of Warcraft (VU Games)
2. The Sims 2 (EA)
3. The Sims 2: Open for Business (EA)
4. Star Wars: Empire at War (LucasArts)
5. The Sims 2: Pets (EA)
6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Take 2)
7. Age of Empires III (Microsoft)
8. The Sims 2 Family Fun (EA)
9. Civilisation IV (Take 2)
10. The Sims 2 Nightlife (EA)